Letting Go
by Challenger2011
Summary: A simple Christmas decoration may be the key to helping Cliffjumper help Arcee to let go of her fears.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: Prime or any of the characters in it. **

**A/N: Takes place before the beginning of Transformers: Prime. **

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"_And there's this large human who breaks into houses and leaves presents for kids all over the world in one night_!" Bumblebee excitedly finished explaining the Earth holiday known as Christmas to Arcee and Cliffjumper.

Cliffjumper laughed, "And how does he do that?"

"_He has a sleigh that has these Earth animals called reindeer attached to it and it flies_!"

"You've actually seen this human?" Arcee skeptically asked.

"_Uh-huh, I saw him walking down the street last year. He didn't stop here and leave presents though, but I think that might be because I'm not a human and he didn't know that I'm a kid. But Optimus said that we could try to celebrate Christmas this year and maybe make gifts for each other. __So I went and found some decorations for us to use around the base._"

"Where did you get this stuff anyway?" Arcee looked at the various stuff that Bumblebee had brought into the base. Ratchet had complained the moment he saw all of it, but no one had seemed to have the spark to tell the youngling that he couldn't put up the decorations, so they remained.

"_Some humans had thrown them away, so I thought that we could use them since they weren't._"

Cliffjumper picked up what looked like some green leaves tied together, "Hey 'Bee, what's this?"

Bumblebee looked at it and took a step away from the red mech.

"_I don't know, __I think it's called mistletoe. On __TV whenever humans are standing under it, they have to kiss each other._"

"Really?" Cliffjumper raised up the mistletoe above his and Arcee's head. "Guess we have to kiss now 'Cee."

The femme rolled her optics. It had been only a few months ago that she and Cliff had met up with Team Prime and became partners, and during that period of time, she had come to realize that Cliffjumper could be a flirt around her. A big one at times in fact. It was an annoying trait as far as she was concerned, especially when he did it in public. In fact, sometimes Arcee wondered if some of the members of Team Prime thought the two of them were more than partners. It really wouldn't have surprised her if they did.

Still a part of her did feel flattered when he flirted with her, and deep down she probably actually liked it, though really she didn't know why. Being partners with Cliffjumper was one thing. After Tailgate, she really hadn't expected to have another and the fear of losing Cliffjumper just like she had lost him was still strong. But she did not need for anything else to grow between them. It would be hard enough should the worse ever happen and she lost Cliffjumper as it was, if he was more to her than just a partner, it would be a lot worse. Arcee didn't want to risk something like that happening.

"Not happening," she shook her head, warily looking at the mistletoe Cliffjumper was still holding above them.

"_But you have to Arcee, that's what they do on TV._"

"This isn't TV, and don't you have a patrol to go on?"

Bumblebee's door wings drooped, "_But there's more stuff I could tell you about Christmas.__ I didn't show you the shows on TV._"

"You can show them to us when you get back 'Bee," Cliffjumper assured. "'Cee and I'll be here waiting for you."

"_Okay, I'll see you guys later._"

Once Bumblebee was out of the room, Cliffjumper frowned at Arcee.

"You really need to lighten up around younglings, or lighten up in general."

"I do not need to lighten up. I especially wouldn't if you two could just act mature for once."

"Hey 'Bee might be in his adult frame, but like he said, he's a kid. They had to upgrade him early."

Typically Cybertronians had to wait until their sparks had matured enough to be able to power a new frame to get an upgrade. Unfortunately as the war raged on and supplies started to dwindle, a lot of younglings had to have their frames upgraded earlier than expected simply so they wouldn't be trapped defenseless until the war was over. The results had been mixed. Some youngling sparks simply hadn't been strong enough to power the adult frames and had ended up going offline. Bumblebee, it seemed, was one of the lucky ones. Either his spark had been strong enough, or his frame was just small enough for his spark to mange, or a combination of both.

"He's still a kid, but what's your excuse?"

"I'm fun to be around?"

"That might be a matter of perspective."

"Well it's my perspective that you need to lighten up. I mean, you never joke around and you keep pushing me away when I try to talk to you." Cliffjumper hesitated before asking, "Is this because of Tailgate?"

Arcee tensed and he immediately regretted asking. Talking about Tailgate had been a forbidden ground. The femme was still hurt over losing her last partner, and that hurt would probably be there for a long time. So Cliffjumper had tried to avoid mentioning him, simply because he didn't want to remind Arcee of that pain. But now it seemed like he was going to have to break down some of those walls. The two of them might be partners, but Cliffjumper really hated the distance Arcee tried to put between them at times.

"Look 'Cee, I get it. What happened to him hurt you, but you do realize that I'm not him, right? It's not like the same thing is going to happen to every partner you have."

"It could though. In the middle of a war, it's all to easy to lose a partner."

"It's easy to lose anyone in a war. I've lost friends, but that doesn't stop me from making new ones. You can't just assume that the worst will happen. You'll never be able to really live if you don't."

"Maybe you're right..."

"I am."

"But that doesn't mean that it's easy to do."

And that was the truth. Letting go of the fear of losing another partner, was a hard thing to do. Seeing Tailgate being killed right in front of her haunted her. She still had nightmares about it – and in some of the more recent nightmares, Cliffjumper had appeared in Tailgate's place. She couldn't deny the fact that she probably would be a lot happier if she managed to let go of her fear. Arcee knew that she probably would enjoy Cliffjumper's company a lot more too. She just had to make it to that point.

"Well I didn't say that it would be easy, it's just something that you have to do. Sometimes you just have to force yourself to do things that you're afraid of. Get what I'm saying?"

"I think so."

"Good." Cliffjumper looked back at the mistletoe that he still had in his hand and teasingly raised it back above his and Arcee's heads. "You know, I still haven't got my mistletoe kiss."

Arcee started to tell him that he could forget it, but stopped herself. Trying not to think too much about it, she leaned up and kissed Cliffjumper on the lips, much to the red mech's surprise. Maybe he was right about doing things that she was afraid of, maybe that was the key to letting go.

Cliffjumper was stunned as he watched Arcee quickly leave the room without saying a word. He looked at the mistletoe in his hand.

"Maybe there's something to these Christmas decorations after all."

"Hey Cliffjumper, what do you have there?" Bulkhead asked as he walked into the room.

Quickly Cliffjumper tossed the mistletoe to the floor, "Nothing!"

Then again, maybe if they were placed in strategic places where only a certain femme would be, they would be alright.


End file.
